Name: Umar Akmal

Birth date: 1990-05-26

Hometown: Lahore

Teams: Pakistan, Lahore Lions, Pakistan Under-19s, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited

Debut: 24 Nov 2009

ODI Best: 102 not out

Test Best: 129

Umar Akmal is a right handed, hard hitting middle order batsman and the younger brother of Pakistan’s wicket keeper, Kamran Akmal.

The 19 year old Umar first came to the attentions in his debut first-class season (2007/8) where he heavily scored at a brisk pace for Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited. In 9 QEA matches he scored 855 runs, averaging an impressive 77.72 with a healthy strike rate of 90.18. The stand out knocks of his being 248 off 225 balls against Karachi Blues and 186 off 170 balls against Quetta.

In January 2008 he was selected to represent Pakistan in the U19 World Cup to be held in Malaysia. In a tri-nation tournament leading up to the World Cup he was the leading run scorer with 255 runs at a very impressive strike rate of 123.18. His performance however in the World Cup was poor, being used as an opener he failed to make a significant score in 5 matches as Pakistan departed in the semi-finals.

Umar was selected in the Pakistan A team for the tour of Australia in June/July 2009 where he performed superbly. In the two unofficial test matches he scored 283 runs at an average of 94.33, this included two centuries and a fifty. In the 3 ODI games that followed he scored 155 runs at an average of 51.66. This excellent form prompted his selection for the ODI series against Sri Lanka in JULY/August 2009.

Umar was not selected for the first match but he played the remaining 4 matches. In his 2nd match he hit an impressive 66 off 65 balls, this was followed by his maiden century in his 3rd match when he smashed an unbeaten 102 off only 72 balls. Umar showed a lot of maturity in this series, he has plenty of shots in his armoury and is a powerful hitter but more importantly he bats with his brain. It was not long before he was fast-tracked into the test team for a tour to New Zealand and he immediately made an impact, hitting a classy century. With his attacking instinct he proved a big crowd pleaser in both New Zealand and then in Australia.

His career is only young at the moment but he has the talent to become a top class player for Pakistan. The talent is there, the determination seems to be there and providing it remains Pakistan have a gem of a player on their hands.